Opening the Word: The Baptism of the Lord (1/12/2025)

Opening the Word is a series of prompts from The Emmaus Institute for Biblical Studies to help focus our minds and hearts on the Sunday Mass Readings. After Jesus revealed Himself to the two disciples on the Road to Emmaus, they said to each other, “Did not our hearts burn within us while he talked to us on the road, while he opened to us the Scriptures?” (Luke 24:32). Our Lord desires to enflame our hearts also by revealing Himself to us in His Word. Take this opportunity to pause, and allow the Lord to make Himself known to you through the opening of the Scriptures which will ready your eyes to see Him in the breaking of the bread.

Listen Here:

First Reading: Isaiah 40:1-5, 9-11
Responsorial Psalm: Psalms 104:1b-2, 3-4, 24-25, 27-28, 29-30
Second Reading: Titus 2:11-14; 3:4-7
Gospel: Luke 3:15-16, 21-22

Step 1: Begin in prayer, asking the Lord to open your heart to receive how He wants to make Himself known to you. Then, attentively read the Scriptures. 

Step 2: Consider these meditation prompts that follow from the readings:

1. Carefully read the beginning of Isaiah 40 from the first reading. Take this time to consider the weight of your sins—only to consider more that the Lord acts twice as much for your good (“she has received from the hand of the LORD double for all her sins”). Pray in joy and gratitude in how the Lord desires the weight of mercy to triumph doubly over the weight of sin in your life. 
    
2. Use your imagination to picture the scene of the Holy Spirit coming down upon Jesus after His baptism (see Luke 3:21-22). Reflect on all that you see and hear: the presence of Jesus, the descent of the Spirit upon Him, the voice of the Father affirming Him. Pause here and meditate on this portrait of Jesus. Next, taking confidence that you have been baptized “into Christ” (see Romans 6:3), place yourself in this scene next to Jesus, allowing the Holy Spirit to dwell with you also, and hearing the voice of the Father speak: “You are my Beloved Son/Daughter; with you I am well pleased.” Take this moment to recognize how the Father delights in you, as you are in Christ.  

Step 3: Conclude with a prayer of gratitude and ask the Lord to keep these Words in your heart.